New Game Idea - Homebrew

[+fdr4prez]

2 hours ago, cmadruga said:

 

This kind of morphed into a development thread, I wonder if it's better to continue it at the programming subforum.

Folks are probably getting saturated with details.

 

We are not so formal in the Inty forum.  

 

There are lots of threads that don't rightly belong here, but they are thriving

Edited March 22, 2020 by fdr4prez
typo

[artrag]

22 hours ago, cmadruga said:

I'm thinking I will have to amend my collision and re-stacking logic to allow for "background tiles".

(I'm using the term loosely here.)

 

"background tile" = non destructible and non re-stackable.

 

Those tile attributes would have to be specific to each map... because for instance, this particular tile that is circled would be a "background tile" at the 1st map below, but not at the 2nd.

 

 

Hi Carlos, great work so far! About what can be stacked and fall and what is just back ground, you could also use bit 14 and 15 in the Gram words.

They are free for storing user data http://wiki.intellivision.us/index.php?title=STIC

 

Your code can read the upper bits by testing

peek(GRAM location) AND 0x4000

(true if bit 14 is set), and

peek(GRAM location) AND 0x8000 

(true if bit 15 is set)

 

You could e.g. use bit 15 to mean that the tile is foreground to be stacked (if set) or background to be ignores (if reset)

In this way the same tile can be used as part of the background and of the foreground even if used with with the same colours (look e.g. at the clouds - background- reused in the waterfall - as destructible foreground)  

 

 

[TIX]

After the last posts tilesheet, here is the revised and re-tweaked spritesheet v1.3

better (4 frames) explosion, better/smaller little fighter plane, plus little changes here and there !

 

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by TIX

[+cmadruga]

Ok, so today I ported over all of TIX's new tiles and the screens designed by him.

Results are on the video.

 

 

Issues observed:

 

1- "Padding" needed at times:

I used some "padding" to prevent certain tiles from collapsing. Those are the little white dots.

Once I tweak the re-stacking code, that should not be necessary.

 

2- Some screens are too crowded

Some screens look good, except for the fact that there's not much room for the biplane to fly over. 

 

3- Some "M" and "Z" pills are buried deep and may be too hard to reach.

 

4- Glitches due to running out of GRAM space.

There were a couple of screens that went over available space. 

Could either simplify the screen, or squeeze more GRAM space by simplifying the green canyon wall tile patterns. Will look into it.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by cmadruga

[TIX]

Ha, I had the same idea with the dot 

 

I have already trimmed the crowded stages, plus added some more !

I'm currently out of ideas, and I think I'm just repeating myself..

So here is the latest/final? set:

 

Canyon.tsxcanyon.tmx

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by TIX

[+Steve Jones]

These look great, if some are a bit crowded, you might have to remove a row or two. Looking forward to seeing next rom. Keep up the great work!

[+bhall408]

12 hours ago, cmadruga said:

Ok, so today I ported over all of TIX's new tiles and the screens designed by him.

Results are on the video.

Wow! That is looking great!

 

One thought that the video suggested -- a mode where you are flying from level to level (round robin 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-1-2-3-4-5...), rather than being on a level until the level is cleared. Not sure if that would be better or not, but that is where my mind wandered watching the video...

[+bhall408]

3 hours ago, bhall408 said:

One thought that the video suggested -- a mode where you are flying from level to level (round robin 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-1-2-3-4-5...), rather than being on a level until the level is cleared. Not sure if that would be better or not, but that is where my mind wandered watching the video...

A further thought...

 

Perhaps the levels are named (rather than numbered), and you are selecting them (any order you want) from a Utopia/Mario style map of the fictional country... And each "mission" gets checked off (on the map) as you complete it...

[+cmadruga]

3 hours ago, bhall408 said:

Wow! That is looking great!

 

One thought that the video suggested -- a mode where you are flying from level to level (round robin 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-1-2-3-4-5...), rather than being on a level until the level is cleared. Not sure if that would be better or not, but that is where my mind wandered watching the video...

Interesting thought, which takes it closer to a scrolling game really.

 

[+cmadruga]

8 minutes ago, bhall408 said:

A further thought...

 

Perhaps the levels are named (rather than numbered), and you are selecting them (any order you want) from a Utopia/Mario style map of the fictional country... And each "mission" gets checked off (on the map) as you complete it...

I like the concept of some type of world map.

However, I feel the basic mechanics (for individual levels) still need more polish before getting to something like that.

[+bhall408]

4 minutes ago, cmadruga said:

I like the concept of some type of world map.

However, I feel the basic mechanics (for individual levels) still need more polish before getting to something like that.

Further, that would invite the idea of a naval mission if you have anything over water... ie, dropping bombs/depth charges on surface ships and/or submarines.

[+cmadruga]

For reference, here is the tileset and maps I'm currently using.

(TIX: let's synchronize on this... I modified some of your screens a little bit mainly to make more room at the top.)

 

If anyone else would like to try their hand at designing a level screen:

- expand the map by 12 rows for each new screen you want to add. Add the new screens at the bottom, please.

- when editing the screen, leave at least the top 5 rows of tiles for the biplane to fly over. Ok to have sky (cyan tile), clouds and the small black blimps in there.

- you can pick up to 23 different tile types from the locomotive row and below. Enough for some variety, but don't go too crazy. I may be able to relax this limitation a little bit going forward.

 

If there is interest in introducing new tiles:

- I guess it's easier not to touch anything on the png attached. Just add new rows to the bottom to make room for your new tiles, which have to be 8x8 pixels, and have 2 colors max. Kudos if you use the Intellivision palette when picking the tile colors (foreground / background). If not, using cyan and black is a good start.

 

 

 

canyon.tmx Canyon.tsx

Edited March 30, 2020 by cmadruga

[First Spear]

Could this move to the Programming Sub-Forum? I think it's great to share a ROM or video of progress, but design and code things should probably be in the same spot for continuity/searching.

 

 

[+cmadruga]

Well, fdr4prez put me at ease when I asked this question a few days ago.

... but to be honest this thread will only get more technical.

 

I wouldn’t mind moving it.

Maybe an admin could move the entire thread? 

[Kiwi]

On 3/29/2020 at 12:58 AM, cmadruga said:

4- Glitches due to running out of GRAM space.

There were a couple of screens that went over available space. 

Could either simplify the screen, or squeeze more GRAM space by simplifying the green canyon wall tile patterns. Will look into it.

You probably can make a tileset only for that type of level.  Then next level either use that tileset or use a 2nd tileset.  That way you can swap in and out set of tiles per screen.

[Intymike]

I'm sure, the testing during the programing was done only on emulator so far.   Because the fire button is on the lower left button.  

But it's a cool game and I like you joint efforts!

 

 

[Humblejack]

If they move it to a new thread, I hope they put a link here to follow it.

[+cmadruga]

5 hours ago, Kiwi said:

You probably can make a tileset only for that type of level.  Then next level either use that tileset or use a 2nd tileset.  That way you can swap in and out set of tiles per screen.

That’s more or less what I’m doing.
Basically the GRAM is loaded with 21 bitmaps for “terrain” (canyon walls/mountains and water) that are fixed for all screens.
Then the next 23 positions are loaded with whatever additional bitmaps are needed for each particular screen: locomotives, cranes, etc.
The balance of GRAM positions are used for “administrative”/fixed things like MOB’s, explosion bitmaps, etc.

[+cmadruga]

1 hour ago, Intymike said:

I'm sure, the testing during the programing was done only on emulator so far.   Because the fire button is on the lower left button.  

But it's a cool game and I like you joint efforts!

 

 

Thanks!

Yes, on my side I have no LTO so can only test it on an emu.

However, the real reason why it’s using the lower button is because the upper one used to make the biplane shoot. I removed that at some point, but it will probably come back, I don’t know...

[Intymike]

37 minutes ago, cmadruga said:

Thanks!

Yes, on my side I have no LTO so can only test it on an emu.

However, the real reason why it’s using the lower button is because the upper one used to make the biplane shoot. I removed that at some point, but it will probably come back, I don’t know...

Than you should use both lower buttons for the bombs.

 

[+cmadruga]

I thought I was... will fix ?

[+cmadruga]

Development discussions should continue inside the topic below. Thank you.